What I suggest is to contact the jail authorities where the delinquent employee is in custody. Ask them for permission to conduct the enquiry in jail premises since the presence of the employee would be necessary. If they permit, well and good. If they don’t permit (or if they ask you to approach the court), then you can approach the court where case against that employee is pending, for permission to conduct the enquiry in the jail premises.
If such permission is granted, then the rest of the procedure would be the same as is used for the normal departmental enquiries, with the difference that the place of enquiry may be inside the jail premises or wherever the court permits the enquiry to be conducted.
You can also consider the enquiry to be conducted through video-conferencing of the employee from jail. Of course, this may need permission from the authorities in the department as well as from the jail / court authorities. Nowadays, even the Supreme Court is conducting its hearings through video-conferencing due to Covid-19; so, there is a likelihood that you may get permission to conduct the departmental enquiry through video-conferencing.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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